So. Spencer Ackerman tells us the “head of the U.S. government’s vast spying apparatus has conceded that recent surveillance efforts on at least one occasion violated the Constitutional prohibitions on unlawful search and seizure.” (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/surveillance-spirit-law/)
It appears that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is the citizen’s best advocate against this illegal activity. As DangerRoom tells us,
Wyden has been a lonely congressional voice against renewing the government’s broadened surveillance powers. Last month, he quietly used a parliamentary maneuver to stall the renewal after it passed a key Senate committee.
As a noted privacy and security authority suggested, this kind of power is necessary in an age of terrorism. But it is too easily abused and misused for citizens to rightfully trust it.